Chigusa Tsukikage holds the rights to the play "The Crimson Goddess," a lost masterpiece that many would love to see brought back to the stage. Tsukikage, however, won't allow the cherished work to be diminished by an actress who isn't worthy of playing the title role. Fortunately, she has found two young actresses that just might be worthy: Maya Kitajima and Ayumi Himekawa. Though both actresses are exceptionally talented, only one can win the coveted role.

An excellent series, and timeless, like another commenter mentioned. Excellent writing and the art grows on you. Considering I normally give up on a manga that doesn't hook me within the first five chapters, the fact that I read all 30 scanlated volumes (and they are hard to find) in two days is a feat. By the end, you really start rooting for Maya; and you can't help but like Ayumi, simply because she's so, well, upright, I suppose.

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I don't quite mind the Maya/Masumi ship, although I must say I'm pretty bleh about Masumi being idiot enough to hook up with another woman. You'd think he'd fight harder/be more loyal to Maya if he adored her that much, especially if he's successfully avoided being hauled before the altar this long.

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The anime (the 2005 one, at least), is not nearly as good as the manga is. The prime reason for this is that the manga takes it's time and adds in a lot of details, whereas the anime tries to get through all 40 volumes in 50 episodes. The result is that the anime is a sort of summary of the manga, with only half the depth of emotion and awesomeness.

all right so relatively speaking i'm pretty new to manga. ive only been reading for the past three or so years but in those 3 years ive read A LOT of different manga. I like many different types: shoujo,shounen, seinen, romance, action, etc. but i havent read a manga that got me so involved in the story since the first few mangas i read. This is by far one of my favorites and i hope to see more releases.

This manga affected my life. Not exaggerating. I first read it in primary school... I didn't even read in sequence (figured the sch library didn't have complete set).

Enough rambling. What I love most is Maya's love for acting, and the way she diligently pursues her dreams and always immerses herself in becoming her roles, not just acting them. The manga inspired me to try out acting (in school context of course...I continued my interest for 7 years even). In essence, the Manga taught me how to put myself in the shoes of fictional characters, and that was my starting point to studying and writing literature.

I guess the plot of a dumb genius pursuing a passion tirelessly is somewhat overused nowadays (e.g. Yakitate Japan, Shaman King, etc), but Glass Mask must be one of the first of its kind. I like that Maya always struggles before she succeeds...and I like that the focus isn't so much on the romance between Masumi and Maya (in the light of influx of less conventional relationships nowadays, Masumi's insistence seems stupid...but remember the setting of the Manga, guys), but on the acting. I love the characters...they're consistent and well done but sometimes not too thoroughly explored (there are many characters) I guess it's different from Mangas where the focus is on one group of people fighting together. Here it's Maya through and through. Sometimes characters get their flashbacks, but that's it. The perspective is more similar to life. Sometimes, you're not close to your friends/mentors, relationships fall apart and you forge new ones...things like that.

Overall, this Manga is irreplaceable in my heart. Even though I stopped reading when I was 12, the story stays in my head. I nearly gave up refinding it, but the internet is something real amazing these days.

Have to say -- a good story will be always popular no matter how old it is. I'm happy to see that Miuchi sensei decided to continue this series after over 15-year hiatus. (Haven't seen any new volumn published after Vol.41 in the late 80's or early 90's.)

If Miuchi sensei's reason to pause the series was the story establishment, I agree with her. Roughly remember after Helen Keller part (oops, sorry, a little bit spoiler) the story became disoriented. I believe she regretted that she chose the wrong direction to continue. However, since it's ongoing again, probably she had found a way out to lead the story to the ending she wants.

Now I just sit and wait for the story ending to come. How many volumns total the series would be, I couldn't guess. After so many year's waiting, I don't really care that much anymore, as long as it's a good ending.

Okay I'm also a guy. My favorite genre is Seinen and my favorite manga is one piece a Shounen. I also read a few Shoujo manga. And out of all the Shoujo manga I read glass mask is definitely the best. Its in my top 3 favorite mangas. I think what I like most about glass mask is that it focuses more on making your passion and dream come true. Rather then which one out of several guys am I going to end up with like your more common shoujo mangas. It also has great, truly deep and raw emotions like between Maya and her mother. Its almost made me cry a couple times. As a macho guy I can't admit it did but it was close , I also love the rivalry between Maya and Ayumi. In my opinion it has the best rivalry out of any manga not just shoujo but all genres. In a sense Ayumi is the second protagonist. I'm starting to rant because I really love this series so I'll just say Glass Mask is one of the most beautifully written, emotionally deep, always exciting manga and story of my generation.

I am a guy too, I like shounen and seinen manga and read almost no shoujo nowadays... but I do love Glass Mask. No Nana, nor Hana yori Dango, nor any other "big" shoujo is nearly as good as this masterpiece by Miuchi-sensei. Don't let the oldish artwork turn you down, this is one of the best manga you will ever read.

What makes GM a true classic? For me, it is the variety of emotions it brings, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, and you can't simply stop reading it. The characters, from Tsukikage to Masumi and of course Maya are so well crafted, you actually care what happens to them. I think that's the main reason why it is the second most successful shoujo manga ever.

Make it right, i am a boy, love mecha, action, shounnen, and practically hate all the shoujo nowadays. But this is different, just like shirauro said "i was addicted, end of story", yeah, i addicted, and now still i am.

The art is very old shoujo style with character look like having flash in their eyes, its annoying at first but if you think about it, not very much mangaka nowadays can draw such style thus make the art become a rare treat today. Although i gotta admit, it so shoujo-ish that i really plan to drop it when i just started to read it, i glad i didn't though

The story, yes, that the one make me so hooked to this series, a girl love drama more than anything, an admirer always hid himself in shadow... argh, i like all the characters in there, even support character also got enough appearance so that reader not forget them. Focus more about drama play than mere romance is an excellent move against anti-shoujo like most of guys do. It boarder the range of readers to both sex. I just dont find enough word to describe the story and its aura, just "Read it !"

Now i only has two wish for the series:- Miuchi sensei please do NOT follow Fujiko F Fujio-sensei, dying before complete your masterpiece is almost same as not creating it from the first place.- Please dont do an Anna Kareina's ending, that just too sad.

1st editted: i dont quite agree with Jhax about Masumi (and Akari is just exaggeration the matter) , i dont see any taboo in his feeling toward Maya, true, he older than her 11 years, but it not like she can't grow anymore. And Maya already finish high school, mean that she already past 18, there are nothing wrong with in love with a mature girl. Also Masumi didn't do just a little to help her, its more like he goes all-out for Maya's sake, when advertising for "werewolf", do you think that act just "a little help" ? At first, it probably just an attraction toward her honest feeling, but time goes by, Masumi's feeling gradually changing, its his guilt and his fear for this new sentiment that make him run away from Maya's feeling: "Between us is a road and the signal always red...Forever red..."That just him break the green light and get paranoid keeping the distance all by himself. If he doesn't honest to his feeling, the one hurt the most will end up be Maya herself, are you fine with that, Masumi ?

I've only just starting reading this. Honestly, the art is atrocious. I'm not picky at all when it comes to drawing. I don't mind simplicity or plainness if the story is worth it. But seriously this manga is drawn so weird, it makes me wanna stop reading. The faces are drawn strangely. It's gonna take time to get use to it. But, all these people here say the story is really great... and so I'm going to keep reading, despite the off-putting art.

Will update this comment when I get a lil further into the story.=========================Ok, I can pinpoint the exact moment I started liking this manga. It's right at page 90 of volume 1. By volume 2, I have already fallen in love with it. Yep, all these people below me were right. This one's a keeper. Even the art is looking prettier to me now.================I agree with Akari's comment about Masumi's feelings for Maya. It seems kinda taboo, since she's only 13. But then, it's only feelings. It's not as if he's pursuing her or thinking dirty things about her. He's just attracted to her passion for acting. Her spirit is inspiring to him, so he does little things to support her in secret. It's not anything bad. And, in case anyone is wondering, he's 10-11 years older than her.=====================If you've read Skip Beat and liked it, you will like this 100 times more. You know how Skip Beat is really good, but has a bunch of those long stupid scenes that has nothing to do with anything (like that birthday party that lasted 8 chapters). Well, this is Skip Beat, but without all the useless subplots to bore you. In fact, the execution is 10 times better in this manga. Every volume contain scenes relevant to the plot development. I read 15 volumes of it in one night.

When I read this manga I often wishto tell the artist to please finish the dang story so that I can go on with my life. The story is that consuming, if you can get past the bad artwork you will enjoy it immensly. As well you can tell the artist's artwork gets much better partway through the series. It is a classic in manga, that grips you and won't let you go.